Takeaway Q&A: Food Chats with Cass Hodges
Snap and Crackle are twinks. Pop is a secret fem top.
Cass Hodges is a multidisciplinary, queer artist focused on ceramic arts, poetry and culinary arts. His poetry and short stories can be found in Wicked Gay Ways, The Portland review, Original Plumbing Magazine, and Inkspill Magazine. He also hosts a quarterly series of feasts featuring his ceramic work.
You can find Cass on IG @cowboycass and on his extremely infrequent substack, “Ceramics and Seratonin”
Cass! If you were a sandwich, which sandwich would you be?
I think I might be a club sandwich with really good toasty sourdough bread, nice tomatoes, turkey and smoky bacon.
Crispy bacon?
Not too crispy because you don't want it to shatter out of your sandwich. You don’t want to lose bacon. I think I would be a pretty classic club sandwich overall.
You're a classic, it's undeniable!
I would also be served with a side of ranch dressing for sure. I try not to be deeply American, but that's a deeply American thing about me. I love ranch. I feel it in my core somewhere.
Is there anything you use ranch for that might be surprising?
Let’s see: pizza, dressing, sandwiches, chicky nuggies.
Chicky nuggies? Adorable.
It just sounds more fun when you say it that way!
Yeah, it's already toddler food, just lean into it!
Yes, some of them are literally shaped like dinosaurs!
I don't think I would put ranch on anything too wild. I have been told that I’m on the strange end of some food combos. For example, I love warm apple pie with a slice of really sharp cheddar cheese. I don't care about ice cream with the pie, I just want cheese. I also put mayonnaise on my grilled cheese. And pickles.
What kind of pickles do you put in your grilled cheese?
It depends on what I have. I make pickles, so whatever I have really. I just grab the oldest jar I have in the pantry because I don't want botulism.
Wise!
Nobody wants that. Nobody's looking for botulism.
Not unless you're Louis Pasteur maybe.
Oh yeah, the pasteurization guy!
I just figured he was out there seeking botulism at some point in his career.
My partner Rhienna and I talk about this a lot. When we travel, other countries are so much more relaxed about pasteurization. In America, we have all these intense rules around keeping our eggs in the fridge, for example. We both have dairy sensitivity and don’t have as many problems when we travel. I don't know if that’s about pasteurization. And I don't know the science, so I'm not going to pretend to know, but it seems like the dairy from other places is easier on the stomach. So we keep our butter on the counter.
I typically don’t - though I know a lot of folks do.
I encourage you to do it!
Maybe I'll try it. I know sometimes people also use a butter crock. I think it’s also called a butter bell? I don’t think I could do that either. Food sitting in water all day freaks me out. Maybe that makes me deeply American and for that I apologize.
I started making pottery a few years ago and I have been making some French butter crocks.
I want to know how often people change out that water.
I’m not actively using the butter crock at the moment, because I also made a butter dish that's really cute and I’ve been using that.
I started working out of this lovely and very queer ceramic studio a couple of years ago and I’m obsessed.
I love that. What's it called?
It's called Radius.
I try to make functional things mostly. But recently a friend of mine who is a brilliant sculptor taught a class at the studio, so I joined and made this bust of Miranda July’s head.
Are you going to try to show it to her somehow?
I’m not sure! I would have to figure out how to do that. I think it turned out well, but I don't know if it really looks like her. It’s hollowed out and I'm going to build a bunch of little sculptures and things from her books and movies and put them in the back of her head. I made a little computer that looks like the computer from Me and You and Everyone We Know, I made some little shoes, and I'm making a lawn chair. I’m also making the rug from All Fours that’s in the hotel room.
There must be some food from her movies you can put in there too! Speaking of food again, do you have any current food hyperfixations?
Okay. Two things. One, I am a victim of the cucumber salad trend that was on TikTok last summer.
I remember this!
I'm still eating cucumber salad all the time!
Was there a core cucumber salad video that was the initial inspiration?
I think it was this sweet white Canadian twink that makes bombass Korean food where Korean people were commenting and being like, "Wow, that's legit." He started making cucumber salad in one of those tall takeaway containers that you get, and he added soy sauce, sesame oil, chili crisp, some sesame seeds, and MSG powder. That's my go-to. It's so satisfying. It's such a good small lunch if you're not very hungry. I still eat it all the time.
I'm also obsessed with this candy that I bought in Japan that's pineapple candy. I think I bought 10 packages of them when I left Japan. I think they were 89 cents per package. My friend Megan teased me because I carried them with me on the plane, but I don't know what to tell you. I'm obsessed with them. It's the most in-your-face pineapple flavor. It's sweet, it's sour, it's tangy!
And then I showed them to her and she was like, "These are just pineapple lifesavers, babe. They’re nothing to write home about." I was adamant they were different, but they are legit in the shape of a Lifesaver! I looked them up and apparently they've been made the exact same way since 1950. And they're made by a Japanese candy company.
That seems legit. Have you tried actual pineapple Lifesavers?
No!
I would love to do a taste test.
I just assumed that maybe Megan knew that there was a pineapple Lifesaver. Let’s Google right now. Ok. Yes! One of the classic flavors is pineapple, which I guess that should tell me something, because I did not realize that.
MUG BREAK! 🍵
Do you have a favorite mug and why?
Fave mug right now is by Nobuyuki Hagiwara. Obsessed with the gorgeous glaze and shape/handle of this one. Fortunate to find it on my recent trip to Japan where I got to nerd out SO HARD on food and ceramics.
Is there any food that are you obsessed with right now?
For some reason, for nearly a year, I’ve been really into the Kashi Cinnamon Harvest Shredded Wheat. I have no idea why the cinnamon is harvested and I have no idea why I even started eating this cereal to begin with. I got a box one day randomly and now I eat it almost every morning. Some nights when I am falling asleep I will be so excited just thinking about my morning shredded wheat. And coffee. Both things make me happy to fall asleep. With age comes wisdom.
What’s the sog-out ratio of that cereal?
It's not very high, the little wheat pillows are nearly always crunchy! It absorbs milk nicely and it’s not overly dry. My whole life I’ve never been super into cereal, so I have no idea where this cereal obsession came from. I guess I should just try and embrace my cereal era.
Maybe you’ll become a cereal head. There's a place in London, it's a cereal cafe, and it has tons of different kinds of cereal. I've never been. My partner went and she was obsessed with it. She's a cereal person for sure. One time I threw her a brunch birthday party and everyone brought different cereals. We also made cocktails with cereal milk.
Wow. That’s such a great idea. Remember when the cereal milk trend started? That was a long time ago now. I think it officially took off when Christina Tosi opened Milk Bar. I could be wrong.
I think that sounds right! Yeah for sure cereal milk is floating around everywhere now. I feel like all the big brands do something that’s cereal milk flavored.
Maybe that's how it got into my system. I just kept having tiny cereal milk increments until one day it exploded into a full cereal addiction.
You're going to be on My Strange Addiction in a couple of years.
Surrounded by Kashi Cereal in one hand and oat milk in another - just pouring both into my mouth. I mean all of the things I could be addicted to, at least this cereal is particularly high in fiber!
You know what, we're getting older, so it’s not a bad thing to have more fiber. I think that's what Kashi would say too. I feel you're really playing into their hands with that one.
I think it was two years ago, we had a New Year's Eve gathering at our house and we ended up talking about all of the different cereal mascots and making a list of their preferred sexual positions or identities. We really mapped out a full list.
Perfection! Were there any cereal mascot service tops?
I think Tony the Tiger is a service top!
Tony the Tiger absolutely! He’s confident and enthusiastic.
He seems like he has a plan, right?
For sure - thumbs up, let’s get ‘er done.
He's probably a really good listener which of course is essential to being a good top.
I found the list! Here it is:
Wow. Sugar Crisp bear is straight?!
Who's the Top Chef judge, the bald guy?
Tom Colicchio! He always has a smirk on his face. Always bemused.
For sure, because he knows people are into him! The Sugar Crisp Bear is sort of like that.
This list is from New Year's Eve 2023. So it's been awhile. Some of their identities may have shifted since then. I don't know if there have been any rebrands.
When I started this newsletter I thought, will I ever run out of pertinent queer food content? And this is the perfect example of the fact that we as a community will never run out of things to say about food.
I also think that a really cool part about queer people is that we can make anything queer.
You’re absolutely right. I do think that the mascots of cereal are pretty much drag queens. I mean, they're out there performing the heck out of cereal.
They're literally serving you cereal.
Given that, you would think Republicans would be more down with drag queens. Didn’t they love cereal as children?
I don't know if I've ever asked a Republican a question.
If I ever meet a Republican on a plane I think I am going to scream-yell at them and ask them what their favorite cereal is.
What are some really Republican cereals?
Grape nuts?
I did have an obsession with Grape Nuts for a brief period. There is a Trump cereal called Trump Flakes. I feel like I might get hell for this from the community, but I feel like maybe Apple Jacks are a Republican cereal.
Interesting. I have to say I do not know a single person that eats Apple Jacks. I don’t think I’ve ever actually had Apple Jacks. Are they Apple flavored? No idea.
I feel like the mascot is just a super creepy looking apple with cinnamon sticks for arms. Who eats apple flavored things? Why not just eat an apple. It’s already a breakfast food.
Did you eat cereal with skim milk as a kid?
Probably. My parents were 100% on board with the zero fat 90s trend. Snackwells were always in the house.
My mom got Olestera chips and whatever the precursor to those were, I think they were WOW chips? My Mom was also all about Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, etc.
My Mom had all the Susan Powter books. Stop the Insanity! So much insanity to be stopped.
She lives in Seattle! Or maybe Mercer island. I think she had a vlog, before YouTube even, and had a semi-viral video that came out that was about pears. Remember that? EAT AN ORGANIC PEAR? She fucking loved that pear. She ate everything but the stem. Man that was a perfect moment in internet history. There’s a lot of insanity right now in the world. Where’s Susan?
I mean I do and don’t want to know where Susan is because her diet books scarred me so deeply. Go ahead and eat your fucking pear Susan, I will go back to worshiping at the altar of my queer lord and savior Tony “The Service Top” Tiger.
Thanks so much for chatting with me today Cass! You are simply the best.
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The cereal facts list hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!! This whole thing was a delight.